Lost in Dream

Lost in Dream is an ongoing project by Yeyint Naing that began during Myanmar’s pandemic lockdown, initially as a painting series reflecting on the country’s fractured education system and the stifled dreams of its youth. The early works captured a sense of disillusionment and loss felt by a generation denied the freedom to imagine a future.

Following the 2021 military coup, the project evolved into a deeply personal series of self-portrait photographs created during the artist’s exile. Living under the threat of forced conscription, Yeyint became part of Myanmar’s growing diaspora. Through layered digital imagery, the series explores the psychological toll of displacement—suspended between memory and uncertainty, home and exile.

Lost in Dream bears witness to the trauma endured by Myanmar’s youth: students imprisoned, tortured, or forced to flee; families divided; futures erased. The work navigates the emotional landscapes of isolation, guilt, fear, and survival. As a visual meditation on disorientation and queer presence, the series resists erasure by reclaiming the body and self through quiet but powerful acts of visibility.